The subject matter disclosed herein relates to bus interfaces, and more particularly to an interface circuit board supporting multiple interface types.
Currently, there are numerous connector interfaces such as serial bus and fieldbus. Different instrumentation may require different interfaces. As such, control systems such as computers can include several different interfaces, which can take up limited hardware space on the control system. However, current instrumentation typically implements a limited number of interface types including process field bus (PROFIBUS), controller-area network bus (CANBUS), and foundation fieldbus (H1 FF). Even with a limited number of interface types, limited hardware space can still be crowded with multiple interfaces. In one attempt to reduce hardware space used, manufacturers have implemented external daughter boards, where each specific type of interface had a separate circuit board, which can reduce the hardware space used. The main control circuit board would then have one of the optional interface daughter boards installed at the time of manufacturing.
Although multiple interfaces could all co-exist with separate connectors, more board area is required for extra parts and connectors, in addition to increasing costs due to the extra parts. In addition, since the multiple interfaces would not be used at the same time, the device becomes more expensive and larger than desired. In other attempts to reduce the amount of hardware space used, termination selections have used switches to connect or disconnect the termination array of resistors. But this solution requires the user to locate and set the switch based on the location of the device along the bus.